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Hello Everybody
The British Forces for the over last 50 years has been all regular and are highly trained. In this modern technical age of computers Ordnance and armaments the training has certainly got to be of a high standard. The downside for the British soldier in the war zones, firstly Iraq and now more prominently Afghanistan are the Improvised Exploding Devices (I.E.Ds) The patrols in the bandit areas take longer, because of the care being taken in trying to locate these mines. All this has to be done before the patrol can make contact with the enemy. The damage the IEDs cause if not lethal are horrendous, their comrades in the vicinity are left with mental scars which sometimes can never be healed.
In this present day our returning service men and women on returning from Afghanistan get counselling if required and quite rightly so they should. The weekly pay of the serviceman particularly the ground troops who are putting their lives on the line should be in a high bracket. When you see and hear what the present day footballers in the premiership get paid, just for kicking a leather ball about, it makes my blood boil.
Also 50 years ago National Service came to an end, 22 years after it was started. It came into being in 1940 when our country was at war with Germany and we were threatened by the jackboot. Many brave men lost their lives on the Land, Sea and Air in achieving victory. When the war ended in 1945 National Service continued and men being called up eventually ended in 1960. The conflicts in the post war years the National Servicemen served in were Palestine, Korea, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Suez, and Oman. There were peace keeping roles in Germany and the Cameroons. Also many men served at the various camps on British soil.
Millions of National Servicemen served in the British forces over the 22 years and many men lost their lives in the numerous conflicts serving their country. The wages they received depending where you were serving was in present day money of £1.50p to £2.50p a week. One week you could be in a conflict the next week one could be taking their demob and the following week back in a civilian job. No counselling and no money in the pocket. The ex-National Servicemen are certainly a forgotten breed, let down by successive governments. The youngest that are left, are all in their seventies now and getting less every year.
Surely at this late stage in their lives, this indeed brave breed of men should get some form of recognition and compensation for what they did for their country many years ago.
Alan

One Response to “Military Interest – National Service Compensation”

i agree wholeheartedly my father did his national service around 56/57 he turned 76 today and he always says that as it was compulsory you got very little in way of wages even thou you where doing the same job as an actual serviceman and you got paid I think he said 25 shillings a week which out of this you had to purchase your polish and something he calls blanko and that you lost 2 years of your lives to this and he believes as do I that anyone who served in national service should be recompensed for this as the choice was taken for them